Pakistan Security Brief

U.S. blames Pakistan for drone strikes in FATA, Pakistan rejects accusations; Karachi police arrest 60-200 in connection with Sunday car bombing; MPA Sultan Tareen kidnapped near Quetta; Security forces kill 10 in Upper Orakzai; Targeted killings and torture kill seven in Karachi; Malik accuses Punjab government of striking deal with LeJ; Pentagon officials say shipments from Afghanistan still secure; Police defuse IED in Peshawar; Karachi ANF seize 3,186kg of Hashish; Stranded Pakistani sailors return home from India; TTP release videos threatening U.S., Britain, and India, showing footage of Waziristan attacks; Polio vaccination teams to conduct three-day campaign in FATA; U.S. ambassador reiterates support for Pakistan’s energy crisis; Police seize explosives and suicide vest in Bannu raid; JUI-S organizes rally against drone attacks; Prime Minister Ashraf to visit shrine in India.

Drone Strikes

• A New York Times report published on Monday states that three American officials denied reports that the U.S. was responsible for drone attacks conducted in North and South Waziristan that killed nine suspected militants including two al-Qaeda commanders in February. According to the U.S. officials, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has not conducted any drone strikes in Pakistan since January.  The U.S. officials speculate that the Pakistani military may have conducted the strikes targeting the Pakistani Taliban and falsely attributed to the CIA in order to avoid domestic political backlash. The U.S. officials also stated that although the Pakistani military and government officials denounce drone strikes, a few senior Pakistani generals have been “read into” the program. In response, a spokesperson from the Pakistan Army’s Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) denied any Pakistani military involvement in the strikes and stated that the U.S. is attempting to distort the facts. [1]

• On Tuesday, officials from the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Samiul Haq (JUI-S) organized a demonstration in Peshawar to protest the killings of innocent tribesmen by U.S. drone strikes and Pakistani military operations in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). JUI-S provincial chief Maulana Yousaf Shah urged the government to withdraw from the War on Terror. [2]

U.S-Pakistan Relations

• On Monday, Pentagon Press Secretary George Little stated in response to Sunday’s bombing in Karachi that U.S. shipments out of Afghanistan and through Pakistan remain secure. According to Little,, the bombing will not deter the U.S. withdrawal of equipment from Afghanistan. [3]

• On Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan Richard Olson reiterated U.S. support to Pakistan regarding its energy crisis while addressing a conference held to recognize the completion of the U.S.-funded Tarbela Dam restoration project. Olson stated that solving Pakistan’s energy crisis remains a top priority for U.S. assistance while citing two other dam restoration projects that will provide Pakistan with 900 megawatts of additional power. During his address, Olson expressed his support for the Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India (TAPI) pipeline, an alternative to the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline. [4]

• On Tuesday, during a conference held by the Jang Forum concerning the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, of Pakistan’s Former Chief Economist, Dr Pervez Tahir, stated that although the Iran-Pakistan pipeline is more economically viable, Pakistan risks its political ties with the U.S. Tahir also stated that the project cannot be completed without the support of the Baloch Nationalist Leadership. [5]

Domestic Politics

• On Monday, Interior Minister Rehman Malik accused the Punjab government of making deals with major terrorist groups, including Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) and the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), when he spoke to reporters in Karachi.  Malik cited the relative peace in Punjab and the fact that LeJ has its headquarters in Punjab, as evidence.  He said the Punjab government must have struck a deal with the militants, because despite the fact that Punjab is Pakistan’s most populous region, and home to many Shias, there were still no attacks there. [6]

Al Qaeda and Taliban Public Statements

• SITE Intel Group reported on Tuesday that the Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) released its first English language magazine called "al-Rashideen" on February 28th. According to the report the magazine advocates violence against Shias. [7]

• An article published on SITE translates a message from Tehrik-e-Taliban Punjab leader, Asmatullah Moavia, released On February 24th praising Ajmal Kasab and Mohammed Afzal Guru, two Pakistani militants who participated in attacks on India. Moavia warned India of revenge attacks and stated that the decision of the Indian government to execute Mohammed Afzal Guru would make it a “new target of [the] mujahideen after the US leaves the region in a humiliating manner." [8]

• On Friday, SITE translated the fourth episode of the TTP’s "Strike of a Believer” video series, released on the Jamia Hafsa Urdu Forum (JHUF) on 13 February, 2013.  The video shows footage of attacks in the Mehsud area of South Waziristan, as well as speeches from prominent TTP leaders, including Wali-ur-Rahman and the TTP’s late founder Baitullah Mehsud.  The speeches encouraged Pakistanis to join their cause, employ and encourage fighters to continue their jihad, and push for continued war against the West, specifically saying that the TTP means to strike within Britain and the U.S. [9]

• On February 27, SITE posted a video of Ustadh Ahmad Farooq, al-Qaeda’s head of media, eulogizing Ahsan Aziz, a Kashmiri Jihadi leader who was killed in a drone strike in North Wazirisatn in August of last year. [10]

Militancy

• According to a statement from the Inspector General of the Sindh Police, Fayyaz Leghari, police arrested sixty people in Karachi Monday night, including LeJ and TTP activists, suspected of connections with Sunday’s bombing.  Leghari went on to say that many of the accused, reportedly explosives experts, admitted to their involvement in 25 unrelated target killings. However, a report in Pakistan Today said Rangers arrested more than 200 people during raids on Monday and Tuesday in Gulshan-e-Memar, Baldia Town, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, and Sikandar Goth.  The report said Rangers seized illegal arms and explosives in door to door operations around Karachi. [11]

• Early on Tuesday morning, unknown attackers kidnapped Balochistan Provincial Assembly member Sultan Tareen, of the Awami National Party (ANP), as he was traveling near Quetta.  The kidnappers stopped his car at gunpoint, then drove him around for hours before dumping the car with a ransom note asking for Rs500 million ($5 million). [12]

• On Tuesday, security forces and helicopters attacked militant hideouts in Mir Kalam Khail and Adam Khail areas of Upper Orakzai agency, killing 10 militants and destroying three hideouts. [13]

• Seven people died in targeted killings across Karachi on Monday.  A man was shot and killed in Machhar Colony by unknown attackers as he returned home from work.  In Old Hajji Camp, police found two bodies bearing signs of torture.  Another tortured man was found dead in Kagzi Bazaar, Kharadar.  Police recovered two more men in Jalbani Goth, Malir Town after they were killed by unidentified assailants.  Unidentified attackers in Naqi Manzil in Delhi Colony burned a man to death in his house  Monday night. Also Monday night, a girl was strangled to death in her home in Muhammadi Colony.  Police do not know who her killers were. [14]

• On Monday, Karachi Anti Narcotics Force (ANF) personnel raided a shipping container at Port Qasim and seized 3,186kg of hashish headed for Belgium. [15]

• On Tuesday, police in Maiamzai, Peshawar, defused a 12kg remote-detonated improvised explosive device (IED) along a road in Matni. [16]

• On Tuesday, a bomb detonated at a hospital in Khyber tribal region’s Jamrud sub-district, wounding a health worker and destroying a number of rooms. [17]

• On Monday, police in Domail area, Bannu, found and defused a suicide vest and hand grenade during a search operation. [18]

Increased Security

• Responding to the recent bombing in Karachi, the provincial government of Balochistan on Monday decided to intensify security measures in the province. The increased security measures will reportedly include installing more CCTV cameras, registration chips for vehicles, taking action against illegally operating vehicles, controlling rental properties, and tracking shipments of fertilizer. [19]

Polio Vaccination

• On Monday, Pakistani security forces announced that three police officers will escort polio vaccination teams during a three day polio vaccination campaign in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Police officers have also been deployed in sensitive areas to prevent further attacks on the polio workers. [20] 

Indo-Pak Relations

• On Monday, Indian police officers arrested their first suspect in connection with the Hyderabad bombing which killed 16 people on February 21. [21]

• On Tuesday, five Pakistani seamen safely returned to Pakistan, after they had been held in India for the last five months.  Indian authorities declared the sailors’ Singaporean vessel a defaulter, and forced the ship, with its Pakistani and Singaporean crew, to anchor without pay or visitation, until their release this week. [22]

• According to officials connected with Pakistan's Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, Ashraf is planning to visit the shrine of Hazrat Khwaja Gharib Nawaz in Ajmer Sharif in India on Saturday, reportedly for personal religious and spiritual reasons.  Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari made a similar trip to the shrine a year ago. [23]